Mike's layout

[early0electric]

Nothing fancy, nothing special. I'd like to have bigger but this works for me. I change it out for Christmas. My Grand Daughter used to be here pre-Covid 19 and help me set it up. Hopefully that will happen again.
 

[starfire700]

Large layouts are both time-consuming and space-consuming. I never had the time or space, until we moved south from the Chicago area.
The important thing is to be able to make trains do what they were made to do.....run, and to enjoy it. 

[early0electric]

Yeah, you're right. I run everything from my 703's and Armored Loco's down to my 150's. Even my Quaker takes a few laps. Thanks.

[Terry]

That's a nice layout.

[starfire700]

Not many collectors can say that they have run a Quaker! The only other who I knew had one was Dave Ely. Dave was local to me at the time (Chicago area), so his was the only Quaker loco I have seen, don't remember if he had a 728 or 732. Could you post pictures of yours?
I have collected scale-series trains since the 1970's, but never had a T-rail layout until recently. Last night was the first time that I ever placed a 700E, tender and the 4 cars on the track and ran set # 707W. I chose a 700K to pull the set, was surprised that it ran, did 2 loops then the pilot grounded-out, tripped the E-unit and I ended the experiment. It was still satisfying to accomplish this, and can't understand why it took me so long to do so.
A close friend, John Potter, who recently passed away, told me that he ran everything he had. I am trying to live-up to that idea, as that is what these trains we collect were made for.

[starfire700]

You can see this set on the tracks on the Jim's Layout thread

[early0electric]

My Quaker is a 728 (Same size as a 700). The number is worn off both sides but QUAKER is quite legible. Rough, but right.
 

 

[starfire700]

Thanks for sharing photos of your 728.

[steamrocket]

Sorry for jumping in here late in the game, but Jim or Mike could you please tell us more about the Quaker locomotives? I've never heard of them before. Thanks!

[early0electric]

From what I know, sometime during 1915 Lionel produced 2 different promotional O gauge outfits. One was similar to Outfit 70 (700, 600, 600) except the loco was stamped QUAKER in the oval and numbered 728. The other was similar to Outfit 72 (701, 602, 601, 601) except the loco was stamped QUAKER in the oval and numbered 732. Collectors have long argued who these were made for but no documentation has been found, at least as far as I know, as to who "QUAKER" was. At the time, there were numerous businesses that had QUAKER as part of their name. A boxed 728 QUAKER Outfit surfaced at YORK a number of years back and the outfit number was identified as 728. So based on this, I'm assuming the other is Outfit 732. The boxed 728 Outfit is shown in Greenberg's new guide to Lionel Trains, O Gauge vol 1. 1915 - 1928 on pages 58 & 59.

[steamrocket]

Thanks very much for the great information, Mike. Much appreciated!

[Terry]

Here's my Quaker. I only have the 728 so far.
 

Here's a regular 700 Loco from the same period. The only difference is the stamping on the side.

 

Like Mike, I've been searching for some documentation about the Quaker name associated with this loco for decades. I've been told repeatedly it was Quaker Oats, and the only reason I got was "Collectors  always said Quaker Oats when talking about these back in the 1950s. The 1950s were much closer to the teens so they would have known. "

That sounds good, but they were saying the Halloween General set made in 1960 was a Sears special in the late 1960s, and we found out in the 1980s it was a Gift's Galore Promotional set that had nothing to do with Sears.

This is one of the questions we'll probably never know the answer to.

[early0electric]

I even sent a letter to the Quaker Oats company to verify if the Lionel Outfits were for them. Their reply was as shown:

So no help there and they even spelled my first name wrong.

[Terry]

That letter infers that they have an archive of old promo items. Hmm.

[starfire700]

In the late 1970's I worked for Sears Store Planning Dept in the Sears Tower Chicago. They had an archives department with bound copies of all the old catalogs. I remember it took me 2 elevators to get there, but was worthwhile. Like a library, I could check-out volumes and inspect on the premises, don't remember if they allowed copying, and that was way before cell-phone camera technology. Sears moved HQ to Schaumburg in the suburbs in the 1990's, and I moved onto a position at one of the companies shopping malls. I wonder if that archive is still there in Schaumburg? The Sears "Big Toy Box" book is a help, but only goes back to the early 1950's. There is a similar book on Montgomery Wards. The John Schmid book on Lionel Promotional Outfits is very detailed and comprehensive, but only covers the narrow window of 1960 to 69. I was at the Stout auction when he and his Dad bought the archives pile, paid a lot of $$. I am not sure if he is working on a book for earlier periods.